“Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you.”
She seemed amused by that. “That’s kind of you, but please don’t feel you have to. Once I learned the basics of the game, Grossdaadi never played other than his best. He said it was the only way for me to learn to play well.”
“Sounds like your grossdaadi was a wise man.”
“Jah, he was. Because he also said letting someone other than a beginner win out of sympathy is treating them as if they have no ability to either win or accept defeat graciously.”
When Seth walked into the kitchen later he found Phoebe had prepared another lunch for three. But this time, in addition to sandwiches, she’d made some sweet potato fries instead of egg salad. An interesting choice. Hadn’t she heard what he’d told her yesterday about keeping it simple?
Edna must have stepped out for a minute—she wasn’t anywhere in sight. Phoebe hadn’t spotted him yet and he could hear her singing softly and slightly off key as she worked.
Not wanting to be accused of spying on her he cleared his throat.
The singing stopped abruptly and her head swiveled around to face him. But there was no apology, just surprise.
“Sorry if I startled you. How’s your hand feeling?”
“It’s fine. Except for having to wear this bandage it hardly gets in my way.”
“Gut to hear.”
Edna came in from the living room just then. “Gut, we can eat now.” Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips were pursed in something that was part frown, part pout. “I’m hungry but Phoebe insisted we wait for you.”
He turned back to Phoebe with a frown. “That wasn’t necessary. I sometimes get caught up in my work and may be up to an hour late for lunch.”
“I’ll keep that in mind in the future.” She gave Edna an exasperated look. “But it’s only a few minutes past noon so you’re not late today. And Edna knows there are other things she can snack on.”
With a tilted chin and an inelegant humpf Edna took her seat at the table.
Seth saw Phoebe grin indulgently as she turned to get something from the refrigerator.
After their plates were served they dug into their meal.
“These sweet potato fries were certainly worth the wait.” Edna wagged one of the fries Phoebe’s way. “I’d never have thought to cook such a thing. But it’s much better than having just a plain sandwich, don’t you think?” The woman gave Seth a pointed look.
“Jah, they’re quite tasty.”
“If there’s something else you’d prefer to have with your sandwich in the future, just let me know and I’ll be happy to fix it for you.”
“As I mentioned yesterday, there’s really no need for you to go to any trouble. Just a plain sandwich is fine with me.”
Her chin came up and he could see a little pink bloom in her cheeks. Had he said something wrong again?
“Perhaps I’m doing this for me and Edna. You certainly don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to. You can just treat it like you do copper pennies.”
It seemed he had said something wrong. “Nee, it’s quite gut. I just didn’t want to make extra work for you.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
Had he just made matters worse?
Chapter 13
There was an awkward silence, which was finally broken when Edna asked Seth about fixing a loose floorboard in the dawdi haus. After that the rest of the conversation was polite small talk.
When the meal was finally over, Phoebe carried the dishes to the sink. “If you want to go ahead and set up the chessboard for our game,” she told Seth as she worked, “it shouldn’t take me long to wash these few dishes.”
Relieved she was still in the mood to play, Seth moved to the sink. “You’re still wearing that bandage so I’ll wash, you dry.”
“Danke.”
Edna carried her plate one-handed. “The two of you are playing chess?”
“Jah.”
“Then I think I’ll get out of your way and go to the living room to do some reading.”
They took care of the dishes in relative silence, but much of the earlier tension was gone.
As Phoebe dried the last few dishes, Seth headed down the hall. He returned a few minutes later with a wooden chessboard, which he placed on the table and quickly set up.
Phoebe hung up her drying rag and then took her place across from him. He watched as she studied the board. What was she thinking?
She looked up and met his gaze. “This set is similar to the one you showed me earlier. Did you make this set too?”
“Jah. It was one of the first ones I made. As you can see, it’s a little less polished than the ones I make now.”
